Nikkei Drops; Unchanged Coincidence Index

Chandrasekhar Atreya
06 Aug, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Japan dropped after a rise in weekly jobless claim in U.S. increased investor concerns. Toyota says its quality advisory panel will give initial recommendations shortly. The coincident index remains little changed in June.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo, Japan – Stocks in Japan dropped after a rise in weekly jobless claim in U.S. increased investor concerns. Toyota says its quality advisory panel will give initial recommendations shortly. The coincident index remains little changed in June.][/R]

Nikkei average edged down 0.1% on Friday but gained for the third week in a row as the broad measure of economic health showed a weak economic recovery. Rise in weekly U.S. jobless claims also contributed to the uneasiness in the market.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average shed 11.80 points to close at 9,642.12 ending the week in positive territory for the third consecutive week. The broader Topix rose 0.5% to 861.17. The Nikkei gained 1.1% this week while the Topix gained 1.4%.

Toyota Motor Corp, working to regain the trust of its customers after its worst recall crisis, said its quality advisory panel will share its initial recommendations as the panel evaluates its North American suppliers.

“We’re going to discuss what we’ve been doing and they’re going to tell us what they have seen and give us their initial thoughts, things we should consider,” Steve St Angelo, Chief Quality Officer and Vice President for North America, said in an interview yesterday at an conference in Acme, Michigan.

NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan’s largest mobile-phone operator said, it may exceed the target of 1 million smartphones set for this year in April, helped by demand for Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB’s Xperia.

“The smartphone sales target was seen as an ambitious one, but with Xperia’s sales hitting 300,000 units, it brought it within range,” said CFO Kazuto Tsubouchi in an interview in Tokyo today.

A broad indicator of economic health was little changed in June and yet another indicator that slower demand is hampering recovery in Japan’s economy.

The coincident index, a composite of 11 indicators including retail sales and factory production rose to 101.3 from 101.2 in the previous month, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo.

Stock Movers

Mitsubishi Estate, Japan’s largest developer by market value gained 2.7% to 1,311 yen, Mitsui Fudosan Co, the largest developer by sales, added 3.9% to 1,392 yen and Sumitomo Realty & Development Co climbed 4.1% to close at 1,694 yen.

All three developers were among the top-10 contributors to the Topix’s gain.

Nippon Sheet Glass gained 5.6% to 227 yen after the glass maker forecast a full year net income of 1 billion yen from a previous loss forecast of 4 billion yen.

Fukuyama Transporting Co soared 7.7% to 446 yen after reporting a 25% increase in operating profit in first quarter.

Softbank lost 1.7% to 2,507 yen.

Mitsumi Electric Co declined 8.3% to 1,289 yen after the company cut its full year profit forecast by 89%.

Terumo Corp declined 3.3% to 4,585 yen after the company said its net income declined 19% in the first quarter.